Shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) closed up a hair yesterday after the company said it added 12.5% to its bottom line, ending the day at $64.22 per share after the J&J raised its earnings guidance for the year by a pair of pennies.
The New Brunswick, N.J.-based health care conglomerate said costs associated with the recall of its DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip implant and with litigating the 100s of personal injury lawsuits filed over the device slashed $271 million from its quarterly profits.
J&J posted profits of $3.91 billion, or $1.41 per share, on sales of $16.14 billion for the quarter, for essentially flat sales compared with profits of $3.48 billion, or $1.25 EPS, on sales of $16.17 billion during Q1 2011.
Excluding 1-time items such as the DePuy recall expenses, adjusted EPS were $1.37, 2¢ above analysts’ consensus of $1.35.
"We continue to bring meaningful innovations to our patients and customers through the strong performance of our recently launched products," said outgoing chairman & CEO William Weldon, who’s slated to cede the corner office to Alex Gorsky next week, in prepared remarks. "The dedication of the people of Johnson & Johnson gives me great confidence in the prospects of our business to deliver sustainable growth, well into the future."
Johnson & Johnson raised its top-line adjusted EPS guidance for 2012 from $5.05-$5.15 to $5.07-$5.17. Analysts on The Street are predicting adjusted EPS of $5.10 for the year.
Sales for J&J’s medical device & diagnostics segment were flat at $6.41 billion, down 0.3% compared with $6.43 billion during the same period last year. That’s largely due to a 24.1% slide for its cardiovascular unit, driven in turn by its move to exit the coronary stent business last year.
Orthopedic product sales were off by 0.7% for the quarter, at $1.49 billion. General surgery product sales rose a tick to $1.63 billion, while specialty surgery sales jumped 8.8% to $628 million.
JNJ shares opened today at $63.90, down about 0.01%.
